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The SnO2 thin film CO gas sensors have been fabricated on silicon nanostructured surface made using a femtosecond pulsed laser irradiation. The measurement shows a significant response to the CO gas at room temperature. While a SnO2 sensor fabricated on a flat surface shows no response when CO gas exists at room temperature. The high area/volume ratio and sharp structures of the nanospikes enhance the sensitivity of SnO2 at room temperature.

Large-scale replication of the natural process of photosynthesis is a crucial subject of storing solar energy and saving our environment. Here, we report femtosecond laser induced self-assembled metal nanostructure arrays, which are easily mass producible on earthabundant metals, can directly synthesize liquid and solid hydrocarbon compounds from carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight at a production rate of more than 1 × 10 5 µL/(gh) that is significantly (10 3 -10 6 times) higher than those in previous studies. 1,2 The efficiency for storing solar energy of the photosynthesis is about 10% in the present simple experimental setup which can be further improved. Moreover, different from previous artificial photosynthesis works, this phenomenon presents a new mechanism that, through a surface-enhanced photodissociation process, nature-like photosynthesis can be performed artificially.

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